Image processing apparatus

ABSTRACT

An image processing apparatus includes at least one of an image forming device configured to form an image on a sheet or an image reader configured to read an image on the sheet, and a storage configured to store information. The apparatus also includes a display configured to display a screen, and a controller. The controller is configured to install an application program relating to the image forming device or the image reader, determine whether to display an execution instruction image for inputting an execution instruction of the installed application program on an individual home screen which is a home screen for individual use by each user, and display the individual home screen containing the execution instruction image determined to be displayed on the display.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/054,564 filed Aug. 3, 2018, which is based uponand claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No.2017-246195, filed Dec. 22, 2017, the entire contents of all of whichare incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

Embodiments described herein relate generally to an image processingapparatus.

BACKGROUND

If an application program (hereinafter, referred to as an “app”) isinstalled on a smart phone, an app button may be automaticallyregistered on a home screen. The app button is an image displayed forexecuting the installed app. If it is detected that a user touches adisplay area of the app button, the smart phone executes theapplication.

The automatic registration of the app button is performed as the smartphone is a device for individual use. In other words, the user of theapp installed on the smart phone is identical to the user of the smartphone. On the other hand, an MFP (Multi-Function Peripheral) is sharedby many users. The MFP does not automatically register the app buttonafter the app is installed. An administrator of the MFP manuallyregisters the app button on the home screen for each user as required.Alternatively, the user may manually register the app button on the homescreen. This is because there is a case in which the administrator maylimit the user of the app, or the installed app is not necessarily usedby all users. However, manual registration of the app button may lead tocomplicated work.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an external view illustrating an example of the overallconfiguration of an image processing apparatus according to at least oneembodiment;

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the image processing apparatus;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a shared homescreen;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a display example of an individual homescreen;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a display example of the individualhome screen.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a display example of the shared homescreen;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a display example of the individualhome screen;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a MFP settinginput screen;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a setting example of user information;

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a metadata setting of anapp;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart for depicting an automatic registration processof an app button; and

FIG. 12 is a flowchart for depicting a priority process of MFP settingand app setting.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In accordance with at least one embodiment, an image processingapparatus comprises at least one of an image forming device configuredto form an image on a sheet and an image reading device configured toread an image on the sheet; a storage device configured to storeinformation; a display device configured to display a screen; and acontroller configured to install an application program relating to theimage forming device or the image reading device, determine whether todisplay an execution instruction image for inputting an executioninstruction of the installed application program on an individual homescreen which is a home screen for individual use by each user, anddisplay the individual home screen containing the execution instructionimage determined to be displayed on the display device.

Hereinafter, an image processing apparatus according to the embodimentwill be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, the outline of the image processing apparatus of the embodimentis described. The image processing apparatus is, for example, a MFP.After installing an application program (hereinafter, also referred toas an “app”), the image processing apparatus automatically registers anexecution instruction image of the installed app on the home screen ofthe user who needs the app. The execution instruction image is displayedon a screen such that the user inputs an execution instruction of theapp. Hereinafter, an example in which the execution instruction image isan app button is described.

The image processing apparatus of the embodiment automatically registersthe app button as follows.

(1) The image processing apparatus stores information of permission of auser. After the app is installed, the image processing apparatusregisters the app button of the installed app on the home screen for auser who has the necessary permission. If the permission is not set, theimage processing apparatus registers the app button on the home screenfor all users.

(2) The image processing apparatus previously stores the setting aboutwhether to automatically register the app button on the home screenafter the app is installed. If the automatic registration is set, theimage processing apparatus executes the above (1) to register the appbutton on the home screen for the user. The image processing apparatusdoes not register the app button on any home screen for the user if theautomatic registration is not set.

(3) The metadata (attribute data) of an app package may includeinformation relating to the permission of the app button registrationtarget. The app package is a file in which a plurality of files relatingto the app is collected. For example, the app package includes metadata,an application program (app), data to be referred to by the app, andimage data of the app button. After the app using the app package isinstalled, the image processing apparatus registers the app button onthe home screen of the user who has the permission described in themetadata.

(4) The image processing apparatus previously stores priority settingabout which one of the setting of the image processing apparatus and thesetting of the metadata of the app package is prioritized. After the appis installed, the image processing apparatus performs the registrationprocessing of the app button according to the setting of the imageprocessing apparatus or the setting of metadata of the app package whichis prioritized.

Below, the details of the image processing apparatus of at least oneembodiment are described.

FIG. 1 is an external view illustrating an example of the overallconfiguration of an image processing apparatus 100 according to theembodiment. The image processing apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1 is a MFP.The image processing apparatus 100 includes a display 110, a controlpanel 120, a printer 130, a sheet housing section 140, and an imagereading section (image reader) 200. The printer 130 of the imageprocessing apparatus 100 may be a device for fixing a toner image or aninkjet type device.

The image processing apparatus 100 reads an image on a sheet andgenerates digital data to generate an image file. The sheet is, forexample, a document, a paper on which characters or images are recorded,or the like. The sheet may be any object as long as it can be read bythe image processing apparatus 100. The image processing apparatus 100forms an image on the sheet using a developer such as a toner. The sheetin this case is, for example, a paper or a label paper. The sheet may beany object as long as the image processing apparatus 100 can form animage on a surface thereof.

The display 110 is an image display device such as a liquid crystaldisplay, an organic EL (Electro Luminescence) display and the like. Thedisplay 110 displays various information relating to the imageprocessing apparatus 100.

The control panel 120 includes a plurality of buttons. The control panel120 receives an operation by a user. The control panel 120 outputs asignal corresponding to an operation carried out by a user to acontroller of the image processing apparatus 100. Furthermore, thedisplay 110 and the control panel 120 may integrally form a touch panel.

The printer 130 is an image forming device. The printer 130 forms animage on a sheet based on image information generated by the imagereading section 200 or image information received via a communicationpath. The printer 130 forms the image through, for example, thefollowing process. An image forming section of the printer 130 forms anelectrostatic latent image on a photoconductive drum based on the imageinformation. The image forming section of the printer 130 enables adeveloper to adhere to the electrostatic latent image to forma visibleimage. Toner is an example of the developer. A transfer section of theprinter 130 transfers the visible image onto the sheet. A fixing sectionof the printer 130 heats and pressurizes the sheet to fix the visibleimage on the sheet. Furthermore, the sheet on which the image is formedmay be a sheet housed in the sheet housing section 140 or a manually fedsheet.

The sheet housing section 140 accommodates the sheet used for the imageformation by the printer 130.

The image reading section 200 reads the image information which is areading object as intensity of light. The image reading section 200records the read image information. The recorded image information maybe sent to another information processing apparatus via a network. Therecorded image information may be used for the printer 130 to form theimage on the sheet.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the image processing apparatus100 according to the embodiment. The image processing apparatus 100comprises a user interface section 101, a communication section 102, ascanner 103 (image reading device), the printer 130, the sheet housingsection 140, a storage section 160, and a controller 170. Since theconfigurations of the printer 130 and the sheet housing section 140 areas described above, the description thereof is omitted.

The user interface section 101 performs input by an operation of a userand output of information to the user. The user interface section 101 isrealized by the display 110 and the control panel 120 in FIG. 1.Hereinafter, an example in which the user interface section 101 is thetouch panel in which the display 110 and the control panel 120 areintegrated with each other is described.

The communication section 102 is a network interface. The communicationsection 102 communicates with an information processing apparatus via acommunication path. The information processing apparatus is, forexample, a personal computer, a server, a communication device having afax (facsimile) function, or the like.

The scanner 103 reads an image on the sheet. The scanner 103 is realizedby the image reading section 200 in FIG. 1.

The storage section 160 is a storage device such as a HDD (Hard DiskDrive), for example. The storage section 160 stores programs and variousdata. The storage section 160 includes a home screen information storagesection 161, a user information storage section 162, and an appinformation storage section 163.

The home screen information storage section 161 stores MFP settinginformation. The MFP setting information includes information relatingto an app button automatic registration setting, a user permissionsetting and a priority setting. The app button automatic registrationsetting indicates whether to automatically register the app button onthe home screen after the app is installed. The user permission settingindicates whether the setting that the user permission is necessary forthe automatic registration of the app button is enabled or disabled. Ifthe setting is enabled, the user permission setting further includesinformation relating to the permission of the user necessary for theautomatic registration of the app button. The priority setting indicateswhether the automatic registration of the app button is performedaccording to the MFP setting information that is prioritized orperformed according to the attribute data of an app that is prioritized.

Furthermore, the home screen information storage section 161 stores homescreen management information of both the shared home screen and theindividual home screen. The shared home screen is a home screen commonto many users. The individual home screen is a home screen for theindividual user. The home screen management information includesinformation obtained by associating app identification information, appbutton display position information, app button image identificationinformation, and app button name. The app identification informationuniquely identifies the app. The app button display position informationindicates a position at which the app button is displayed on the homescreen. If the home screen has a plurality of pages, the app buttondisplay position information includes information of a page on which theapp button is displayed. The app button image identification informationuniquely identifies the app button image. The app button image is imagedata of the app button. The home screen management data may include theapp button image instead of the app button identification information.

The user information storage section 162 stores user information. Theuser information indicates user attributes of the administrator andrespective users. The user attribute includes a permission of the user.The permission includes a copy execution permission, a scanningexecution permission, a printing execution permission, and a Faxtransmission execution permission.

The app information storage section 163 stores the app package. The apppackage includes the app identification information, the metadata, theapplication program, the data to be referred to by the app, the appbutton image identification information, the app button image specifiedby the app button image identification information, and the app buttonname. The app identification information may be contained in themetadata or the application program. The app button name may becontained in the metadata. The app package may include a plurality ofapp button images having different display sizes.

The controller 170 controls each section. The controller 170 includes aprocessor, a memory, and a HDD. The processor is, for example, a CPU(Central Processing Unit). The memory stores data to be directlyreferred to when the processor executes a process. For example, thememory is a RAM (Random Access Memory). The processor operates as thecontroller 170 by reading the program from the storage section 160 andexecuting it. The controller 170 includes a panel controller 171, ascanner controller 172, a printing controller 173, a communicationcontroller 174, a home screen management section 175, a user informationmanagement section 176, and an app information management section 177.

The panel controller 171 controls the display on the touch panel. Thepanel controller 171 displays the shared home screen and the individualhome screen on the touch panel based on the home screen managementinformation stored in the home screen information storage section 161.Specifically, the panel controller 171 reads out the app identificationinformation, the app button display position information, the app buttonimage identification information, and the app button name of each appbutton to be displayed on the home screen from the home screenmanagement information. The panel controller 171 reads out the appidentification information and the app button image specified by the appbutton image identification information from the app information storagesection 163. The panel controller 171 generates the home screen bycombining a screen format of the home screen, the app button displayimage positioned based on the app button display position information,and the app button name. The display position of the app button name isa predetermined position on or around the app button display image. Thepanel controller 171 displays the generated home screen on the touchpanel.

The panel controller 171 detects an operation performed by the user onthe touch panel. The panel controller 171 detects that the user pressesthe app button on the home screen, and outputs an execution instructionof the app. The controller 170 starts executing the app that isinstructed to execute.

The scanner controller 172 controls the scanner 103 based on the appexecuted by the controller 170. The printing controller 173 controls theprinter 130 based on the app executed by the controller 170. Thecommunication controller 174 controls the communication section 102. Thecommunication controller 174 is connected with a facsimile apparatuswhich is a communication destination and transmits the image informationbased on the app executed by the controller 170. The image informationto be transmitted is, for example, an image read by the scanner 103.

The home screen management section 175 manages the MFP settinginformation and the home screen management information stored in thehome screen information storage section 161. The home screen managementsection 175 determines whether to display the app button for theinstalled app on the individual home screen for each user based on acondition stored in the storage section 160. For example, the MFPsetting information, or both the MFP setting information and the userinformation are used as the condition. Alternatively, the home screenmanagement section 175 determines whether to display the app button onthe individual home screen for each user based on the setting of themetadata of the installed app. The home screen management section 175updates the home screen management information such that the app buttondetermined to be displayed is contained in the individual home screen.The home screen management section 175 may determine whether to displaythe app button of the installed app on the shared home screen as in thecase of the user individual home screen. The home screen managementsection 175 updates the home screen management information such that theapp button determined to be displayed is contained in the shared homescreen.

The user information management section 176 manages the user informationstored in the user information storage section 162. The app informationmanagement section 177 installs the app relating to the scanner 103 orthe printer 130 using the app package stored in the app informationstorage section 163. When the app is installed, the app informationmanagement section 177 may generate unique app identificationinformation in the image processing apparatus 100 and assign the appidentification information to the app package.

The shared home screen and the individual home screen displayed on thetouch panel by the panel controller 171 are described with reference toFIG. 3 to FIG. 5. In these figures, an example is shown in which sixapps including copy apps 1 to 3 and scan apps 1 to 3 are installed inthe image processing apparatus 100.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a shared homescreen G10. In the shared home screen G10 shown in FIG. 3, an app buttonA1 indicating a copy app 1, an app button A2 indicating a scan app 1, anapp button A3 indicating a copy app 2, an app button A4 indicating acopy app 3, an app button A5 indicating a scan app 2, and an app buttonA6 indicating a scan app 3 are displayed. The user can use six apps byusing the shared home screen G10. The user presses any one of the appbuttons A1 to A6 which indicates the app the user wants to use. Thecontroller 170 executes an app corresponding to the pressed app button,and displays the execution screen of the app on the touch panel.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a display example of the individualhome screen G11 of a user 1. In the individual home screen G11 of theuser 1, the app button A1 indicating the copy app 1, the app button A3indicating the copy app 2, and the app button A4 indicating the copy app3 are displayed. The individual home screen G11 is different from theshared home screen G10 shown in FIG. 3 in the registered state of theapp button. The user 1 can use three apps by using the individual homescreen G11.

FIG. 5 shows an example of an individual home screen G12 of a user 2. Inthe individual home screen G12 of the user 2, the app button A1indicating the copy app 1, the app button A2 indicating the scan app 1,the app button A5 indicating the scan app 2, and the app button A6indicating the scan app 3 are displayed. The individual home screen G12is different from the shared home screen G10 shown in FIG. 3 and theindividual home screen G11 shown in FIG. 4 in the registered state ofthe app button. In this manner, the registration and arrangement of theapp button can be customized freely for each user of the imageprocessing apparatus 100.

In FIG. 3 to FIG. 5, the app button is registered as the executioninstruction image on the home screen. As shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, thepanel controller 171 may display a menu of the app that can instruct theexecution on the home screen as the execution instruction image.

FIG. 6 shows a display example of a shared home screen G20. In a menudisplay area A21 of the shared home screen G20, a catalog of names ofthe six apps, i.e., the copy app 1, the scan app 1, the copy app 2, thecopy app 3, the scan app 2, and the scan app 3 is displayed. In the menudisplay, an app button image of a small size is displayed adjacent tothe name of the app. In the menu display area A21, the user presses adisplay area where the name of the app to be used is displayed. Forexample, when the user presses the display area A22 where the name ofthe scan app 1 is displayed, the controller 170 starts executing thescan app. The panel controller 171 displays the execution screen of thescan app 1 in an app execution screen display area A23 adjacent to themenu display area A21.

FIG. 7 shows a display example of an individual home screen G21 of theuser 1. In the menu display area A21 of the individual home screen G21,a catalog of names of three apps including the copy app 1, the copy app2 and the copy app 3 is displayed. If the user presses the display areaincluding the name of the app to be used in the menu display area A21,the controller 170 starts executing the app. The panel controller 171displays the app execution screen in the app execution screen displayarea A23.

In the case of the home screen display shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, theimage processing apparatus 100 displays the app execution screen whiledisplaying the menu of the apps. Therefore, the user can continuouslyinstruct execution of different apps without switching the screen.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a MFP settinginput screen G30. The panel controller 171 displays the MFP settinginput screen G30 shown in FIG. 8 on the touch panel. The MFP settinginput screen G30 includes setting input fields F31 to F37. In thesetting input field F31, it is possible to select whether toautomatically register the app button at the time of installing the appfrom a pull-down menu. “Yes” is selected if the automatic registrationof the app button is performed, and “no” is selected if the automaticregistration of the app button is not performed. In the setting inputfield F32, it is possible to select whether to set the setting that thepermission is required for a target person for whom the app button isautomatically registered on the home screen to be “enabled” or“disabled” from a pull-down menu.

In the setting input field F33, it is possible to select whether theautomatic registration of the app button on the home screen of the userhaving a copy permission is “necessary” or “unnecessary” from thepull-down menu. In the setting input field F34, it is possible to selectwhether the automatic registration of the app button on the home screenof the user having a scanning permission is “necessary” or “unnecessary”from the pull-down menu. In the setting input field F35, it is possibleto select whether the automatic registration of the app button on thehome screen of the user having a printing permission is “necessary” or“unnecessary” from the pull-down menu. In the setting input field F36,it is possible to select whether the automatic registration of the appbutton on the home screen of the user having a Fax transmissionpermission is “necessary” or “unnecessary” from the pull-down menu.

In the setting input field F37, it is possible to select a priorityorder of the automatic registration of the app button from the pull-downmenu. “According to the MFP setting” when the MFP setting is prioritizedis selected, and “according to application setting” is selected if thesetting of the metadata of the app is prioritized.

The administrator of the image processing apparatus 100 inputs the MFPsetting information using the setting input fields F31 to F37, andpresses a storage button B31. The home screen management section 175stores the MFP setting information indicating the contents set in thesetting input fields F31 to F37 in the home screen information storagesection 161.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a setting example of the userinformation. The user information indicates whether or not theadministrator and each user have the copy execution permission, thescanning execution permission, the printing execution permission, andthe Fax transmission execution permission, respectively. “O” means thathe or she has the permission, and “X” indicates that he or she does nothave permission. The user information management section 176 stores theuser information input by the administrator using the user interfacesection 101 in the user information storage section 162. If it isregarded that the administrator has all the execution permission, theinformation relating to the permission of the administrator may notcontained in the user information.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the setting of themetadata of an app. In the example shown in FIG. 10, the app attributeis described in the metadata of a XML (Extensible Markup Language) file.“AppId” indicates the app identification information. “AppName”indicates the name of the app. “AppVersion” indicates the version of theapp. “AppCreatedDate” indicates the creation date of the app. The“AppSummary” shows a summary of the app. “AppButtonName 1”,“AppButtonName 2” indicate app button names. “IsAutoButtonRegistration”and “PermissionForButtonRegistration” indicate registration attribute ofthe app button. The registration attribute of the app button indicates acondition relating to the registration of the app button.

“IsAutoButtonRegistration” indicates an attribute about whether toautomatically register the app button at the time of installing theapplication. “True” is described when the automatic registration of theapp button is performed, and “False” is described when the automaticregistration is not performed.

“PermissionForButtonRegistration” indicates whether the automaticregistration of the app button on the home screen of the user having theexecution permission is “necessary” or “unnecessary” for each of thecopy, the scanning, the printing, and the Fax transmission. “True” isdescribed in “Copy” if the automatic registration of the app button onthe home screen of the user having the copy permission is “necessary”,and “False” is described if “unnecessary”. “True” is described in “Scan”if the automatic registration of the app button on the home screen ofthe user having the scanning permission is “necessary”, and “False” isdescribed if “unnecessary”. “True” is described in “Print” if theautomatic registration of the app button on the home screen of the userhaving the printing permission is “necessary”, and “False” is describedif “unnecessary”. “True” is described in “SendFax” if the automaticregistration of the app button on the home screen of the user having theFax transmission permission is “necessary”, and “False” is described if“unnecessary”.

The registration attribute of the app button may further includeinformation about whether to enable or disable the setting that thepermission is required for the target person for whom the app button isautomatically registered. The setting of“PermissionForButtonRegistration” is enabled if the setting that thepermission is required for the target person for whom the app button isautomatically registered on the home screen is necessary.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an app buttonautomatic registration process. FIG. 11 shows a process by thecontroller 170 when the attribute information relating to theregistration of the app button is not contained in the app package.

The app information management section 177 installs the app by using theapp package stored in the app information storage section 163 (ACT 11).After the app is installed, the home screen management section 175 readsout the MFP setting information from the home screen information storagesection 161. The home screen management section 175 determines whetheror not the setting of the automatic registration of the app button isenabled based on the MFP setting information (ACT 12). If the homescreen management section 175 determines that the setting of theautomatic registration of the app button is disabled (No in ACT 12), thehome screen management section 175 terminates the process withoutregistering the app button.

If the home screen management section 175 determines that the setting ofthe automatic registration of the app button is enabled (Yes in ACT 12),the home screen management section 175 executes the process in ACT 13.Based on the MFP setting information, the home screen management section175 determines whether or not the setting that the permission isrequired for the target person for whom the app button is automaticallyregistered on the home screen is enabled (ACT 13). If the home screenmanagement section 175 determines that the setting is enabled (Yes inACT 13), the home screen management section 175 registers the app buttonon the shared home screen and the individual home screen of each userhaving the permission (ACT 14).

Specifically, the process in ACT 14 is performed as follows. The homescreen management section 175 acquires the permission information ofeach user from the user information stored in the user informationstorage section 162. If it is set that the copy permission is“necessary” in the MFP setting information, the home screen managementsection 175 selects a user having the copy execution permission as thetarget person for whom the app button is registered. If it is set thatthe scanning permission is “necessary” in the MFP setting information,the home screen management section 175 selects a user having thescanning execution permission as the target person for whom the appbutton is registered. If it is set that the printing permission is“necessary” in the MFP setting information, the home screen managementsection 175 selects a user having the printing execution permission asthe target person for whom the app button is registered. If it is setthat the Fax transmission permission is “necessary” in the MFP settinginformation, the home screen management section 175 selects a userhaving the Fax transmission execution permission as the target personfor whom the app button is registered.

The home screen management section 175 registers the app button of theinstalled app on the shared home screen and the individual home screenof each user who is the target person for whom the app button isregistered. Therefore, the home screen management section 175 acquiresthe app identification information, the app image identificationinformation, and the app button name of the installed app from the apppackage. The home screen management section 175 determines the appbutton display position in each of the shared home screen and theindividual home screen of each user who is the target person for whomthe app button is registered. The home screen management section 175additionally registers the app identification information, the appbutton display position information, the app image identificationinformation and the app button name in association with each of the homescreen management information of the shared home screen and the homescreen management information of the individual home screen of each userwho is the target person for whom the app button is registered.

On the other hand, if the home screen management section 175 determinesthat the setting that the permission is required for the target personfor whom the app button is registered on the home screen is disabled (Noin ACT 13), the home screen management section 175 registers the appbutton on the shared home screen and the individual home screen of eachuser (ACT 15). The home screen management section 175 updates the homescreen management information of the shared home screen and the homescreen management information of the individual home screen of each userlike the process in Act 14 if it is considered that all the users arethe target person for whom the app button is registered.

In ACT 14, similarly to the user, the home screen management section 175also determines whether or not the administrator has the permissionrequired for the registration of the app button, and if theadministrator has the permission, the home screen management section 175may determine the administrator as the target person for whom the appbutton is registered. The home screen management section 175 registersthe app button on the shared home screen if the administrator isdetermined as the target person for whom the app button is registered.

In ACT 14, in addition to the permission of the user, the type of theapp may be further determined to select the user who is the targetperson for whom the app button is registered. In this case, theinformation relating to the type of the app is set in the metadata ofthe app. The app includes a copy related app, a scanning related app, aprinting related app, and a Fax transmission related app. The homescreen management section 175 reads out the information relating to thetype of the app from the metadata of the installed app. If theadministrator installs an app in the image processing apparatus 100, theinformation relating to the type of the app may be input through theuser interface section 101.

If it is set that the copy permission is “necessary” in the MFP settinginformation and the type of the app is the copy related app, the homescreen management section 175 selects the user having the copy executionpermission as the target person for whom the app button is registered.If it is set that the scanning permission is “necessary” in the MFPsetting information and the type of the app is the scanning related app,the home screen management section 175 selects the user having thescanning execution permission as the target person for whom the appbutton is registered. If it is set that the printing permission is“necessary” in the MFP setting information and the type of the app isthe printing related app, the home screen management section 175 selectsthe user having the printing execution permission as the target personfor whom the app button is registered. If it is set that the Faxtransmission permission is “necessary” in the MFP setting informationand the type of the app is the Fax transmission related app, the homescreen management section 175 selects the user having the Faxtransmission execution permission as the target person for whom the appbutton is registered.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a priority process ofthe MFP setting and the app setting. FIG. 12 shows the process by thecontroller 170 when the registration attribute of the app button is setin the app package.

The app information management section 177 installs the app using theapp package stored in the app information storage section 163 (ACT 21).Next, the home screen management section 175 determines whether or notthe MFP setting information is set and whether or not the registrationattribute of the app button is set in the metadata of the installed app(ACT 22).

If the home screen management section 175 determines that the both areset (Yes in ACT 22), based on the priority order of the automaticregistration of the app button set in the MFP setting information, thehome screen management section 175 determines which one of the MFPsetting and the setting of the registration attribute of the app buttonis prioritized. The home screen management section 175 executes theautomatic registration of the app button according to the setting whichis prioritized (ACT 23).

Specifically, the home screen management section 175 performs theprocess subsequent to ACT 12 in FIG. 11 when a priority order of theautomatic registration of the app button is “according to the MFPsetting”. The home screen management section 175 uses the registrationattribute of the app button to replace the MFP setting information ifthe priority order of the automatic registration of the app button is“according to the application setting”, and performs the processsubsequent to ACT 12 in FIG. 11.

On the other hand, if the home screen management section 175 determinesthat there is only one of the MFP setting and the setting of theregistration attribute of the app button (No in ACT 22), the home screenmanagement section 175 executes the automatic registration of the appbutton according to the existing setting (ACT 24). Specifically, thehome screen management section 175 performs the process subsequent toACT 12 in FIG. 11 if there is the MFP setting and there is no setting ofthe registration attribute of the app button in the metadata of the app.If there is no MFP setting but there is the setting of the registrationattribute of the app button in the metadata of the app, the home screenmanagement section 175 uses the registration attribute of the app buttoninstead of the MFP setting information to perform the process subsequentto ACT 12 in FIG. 11.

The home screen management section 175 operates as follows in the caseof performing the process subsequent to ACT 12 in FIG. 11 by using theregistration attribute of the app button set in the metadata of the app.In ACT 12, the home screen management section 175 determines whether ornot the setting of the automatic registration of the app button isenabled based on a setting value of “IsAutoButtonRegistration” in themetadata. In ACT 13, the home screen management section 175 reads out,from the metadata, the information about whether or not the setting thatthe permission is required for the target person for whom the app buttonis automatically registered on the home screen is enabled. The homescreen management section 175 executes the process in ACT 14 when themetadata does not contain the information about whether or not thesetting that the permission is required for the automatic registrationof the app button is enabled. In the ACT 14, the home screen managementsection 175 determines whether or not the copy permission, the scanningpermission, the printing permission, and the Fax transmission permissionare necessary, respectively, based on the setting values of “Copy”,“Scan”, “Print” and “SendFax”.

Through the above, by setting the MFP setting information and the userinformation in the image processing apparatus 100, the administrator canautomatically register the execution instruction image of the appinstalled in the image processing apparatus 100 on the shared homescreen and the individual home screen of each user.

According to at least one embodiment described above, by having thecontroller 170, if the MFP installs the app, among the plurality ofusers using the MFP, it is possible to automatically register theinstruction execution image on the individual home screen of the userwho needs the app.

While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments havebeen presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit thescope of the invention. Indeed, the novel embodiments described hereinmay be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, variousomissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the embodimentsdescribed herein may be made without departing from the spirit of theinvention. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended tocover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope andspirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. An image processing apparatus, comprising: atleast one of an image forming device configured to form an image on asheet or an image reader configured to read an image on the sheet; astorage configured to store individual home screen information for eachuser of a plurality of users, the individual home screen being a homescreen for individual use by each user of an application programrelating to the image forming device or the image reader; a displayconfigured to display the individual home screen; and a controllerconfigured to install the application program relating to the imageforming device or the image reader, select a user to register anexecution instruction image for including an execution instruction ofthe installed application program in the individual home screeninformation based on information relating to permission of the user;register the execution instruction image in the individual home screeninformation of the selected user; update the individual home screeninformation stored in the storage to be individual home screeninformation in which the execution image is registered; and display theindividual home screen based on the individual home screen informationstored in the storage.
 2. The information processing apparatus accordingto claim 1, wherein the storage is configured to store a setting forwhether or not automatic registration is necessary; and the controlleris configured to select the user who registers the execution instructionimage in the individual home screen information based on the informationrelating to the permission of the user, in a case of the setting beingthat automatic registration is necessary.
 3. The image processingapparatus according to claim 2, wherein the storage is configured tostore the information relating to the permission of the user.
 4. Theimage processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controlleris configured to receive the information relating to the permission ofthe user.
 5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1,wherein the application program includes the information relating to thepermission of the user in attribute data of the application program. 6.The image processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the storageis configured to store the information relating to the permission of theuser and information relating to a priority setting; and the controlleris configured to select the user who registers the execution instructionimage in the individual home screen information based on the informationrelating to the permission of the user stored in the storage or theinformation relating to the permission of the user in the applicationprogram according to the information relating to the priority setting.7. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein theinformation relating to the permission of the user includes permissioninformation for executing the application program.
 8. An imageprocessing method, comprising: storing, in a storage, individual homescreen information for each user of a plurality of users, the individualhome screen being a home screen for individual use by each user of anapplication program relating to at least one of an image forming deviceconfigured to form an image on a sheet or an image reader configured toread an image on the sheet; controlling, via a controller, installationof the application program relating to the image forming device or theimage reader; selecting a user to register an execution instructionimage for including an execution instruction of the installedapplication program in the individual home screen information based oninformation relating to permission of the user; registering theexecution instruction image in the individual home screen information ofthe selected user; updating the individual home screen informationstored in the storage to be individual home screen information in whichthe execution image is registered; and displaying, on a display, theindividual home screen based on the individual home screen informationstored in the storage.
 9. The information processing method according toclaim 8, further comprising: storing, in the storage, a setting as towhether or not automatic registration is necessary; selecting the userwho registers the execution instruction image in the individual homescreen information based on the information relating to the permissionof the user, in a case of the setting being that automatic registrationis necessary.
 10. The image processing method according to claim 9,further comprising: storing the information relating to the permissionof the user.
 11. The image processing method according to claim 8,further comprising: receiving the information relating to the permissionof the user.
 12. The image processing method according to claim 8,further comprising: the application program includes the informationrelating to the permission of the user.
 13. The image processing methodaccording to claim 12, further comprising: storing, in the storage, theinformation relating to the permission of the user and informationrelating to a priority setting; and selecting the user who registers theexecution instruction image in the individual home screen informationbased on the information relating to the permission of the user storedin the storage or the information relating to the permission of the userin the application program according to the information relating to thepriority setting.
 14. The image processing method according to claim 8,wherein the information relating to the permission of the user includespermission information for executing the application program.